Nature this week is running a short review of a visit to Dmanisi by journalist Katharine Barnes (Pay link):
Visitors are now welcome at the Dmanisi archaeological site in Georgia — famed as the location of the oldest hominin fossils to be found outside Africa. The first phase of an on-site museum, a modern wooden-and-steel shelter, opened in September 2009 to protect the central dig and allow the public to explore the site. Later this year, construction is due to start on a visitor centre that will display some important finds.
The article includes some interview material with David Lordkipanidze. Here's a good line:
“Georgia today is searching for its place in the world, and cultural heritage is one of the opportunities to put it on the map,” he says. “Science is not just for scientists. Archaeology is one of the small tools we have to pave our way towards Europe.”
